Ketamine for PTSD

“I wish that had never happened to me”

“Why did that happen to me?” This is the question that echoes in the minds of many trauma survivors. The question of “why” however highlights one of the fundamental ways in which ketamine treats PTSD. Often there is just nothing that can be articulated in words that will adequately answer this existential question on a subconscious level. If words could explain it, then talk therapy would have already worked. We have found that a question like this needs to be answered in a radically different way. It needs to be “answered” on a subconscious and spiritual level through the transformative experience of ketamine therapy. The experiential (or “psychedelic”) element of a ketamine journey helps patients reframe their paradigm of themselves in relationship to their trauma. Our goal is to reset their cognitive paradigms so that, on a subconscious level, their trauma no longer defines who they are.

Ketamine changes the channel

One way to conceptualize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is that it is like being forced to listen to a radio station you hate. The same content gets broadcasted over and over and over. Traditional treatments like Zoloft, Seroquel, and Xanax only serve to “turn down the volume”…but the station remains the same. Ketamine breaks this paradigm because it has the potential to “change the channel.”

Research based treatments

Klarisana recently completed an Institutional Review Board-approved study where we administered PTSD and depression screening tests to thirty combat veterans before and after an Induction Series of ketamine infusions. They received the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5) which is an 80-point score of PTSD symptoms. They also received the Periodic Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) which is a 27-point scoring tool that assesses symptoms of depression. The veterans had a 45% decrease in their average PCL-5 score (56.2 to 31.3) and a 50% decrease in their PHQ-9 score (18.9 down to 9.5). Our manuscript has been submitted and will hopefully be accepted for publication soon.

Ketamine is a disruptive treatment for PTSD

At Klarisana, we recommend an initial series of six ketamine infusions spaced out over two to four weeks to treat mental health conditions. Each infusion is one hour long, and patients are infused in private rooms with a Klarisana staff member in attendance the entire time. We progressively increase the dose of ketamine over the course of the infusions to help patients enter a powerful transpersonal and mystical space that we call the Psychotropic Therapeutic Response. The Induction Series is a very dynamic process because who you are in terms of how you see yourself and your relationship to the world changes between each infusion. This is a very disruptive concept in western medicine because the space in which we are operating synthesizes evidence-based pharmacologic treatment with a shamanistic element of guiding our patients through a profound mystical experience. We increase our doses safely but aggressively to maximize this experience. Unlike some of our competitors we try to avoid using any benzodiazepines (Valium etc.) that would cause our patients to not remember this transformative experience.